Sen. John McCain suggested that he was tired when he questioned fired FBI director James Comey on Thursday, a performance that lit up Twitter and the Internet with unsparing criticism.

The Associated Press

McCain says his confusing questions resulted from tiredness

WASHINGTON — Sen. John McCain suggested that he was tired when he questioned fired FBI director James Comey on Thursday, a performance that lit up Twitter and the Internet with unsparing criticism.

The 80-year-old Arizona Republican joked that maybe he shouldn't have stayed up late watching the Arizona Diamondbacks playing a night game out West.

"What I was trying to get at was whether Mr. Comey believes that any of his interactions with the president rise to the level of obstruction of justice," McCain said in a statement after his questioning.

Instead, McCain flummoxed Comey with a question about why "the investigation of anything former Secretary Clinton had to do with the campaign is over and we don't have to worry about it anymore?"

Comey pointed out they were separate investigations, begun at different times.

"I'm a little confused," Comey responded. "With respect to Secretary Clinton, we investigated a criminal investigation in connection with her use of a personal email server."

US government: 2 men charged with plotting terror attacks

NEW YORK — Two men from Michigan and New York City were tasked by a terrorist organization with looking for potential terrorism targets in New York and Panama, U.S. authorities said Thursday as they announced the suspects' recent arrests.

Samer El Debek, 37, of Dearborn, Michigan, and Ali Kourani, 32, of the Bronx, were charged in Manhattan federal court with providing support to a terrorist organization. El Debek was arrested June 1 in Livonia, Michigan; Kourani was arrested the same day in the Bronx. Both men were being held in New York City after court appearances.

Defense lawyers did not immediately comment.

S. Korea leader warns North after latest missile launch

UNITED NATIONS — North Korea's latest launches of several suspected anti-ship missiles were short-range and landed well short of past efforts, but they still served as a defiant message for its enemies that Pyongyang will continue to pursue a weapons program that has rattled its neighbors and Washington.

The projectiles were fired Thursday from the North Korean eastern coastal town of Wonsan and likely flew about 200 kilometers (125 miles), South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said. They landed in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, where U.S. aircraft carriers USS Carl Vinson and USS Ronald Reagan participated in joint exercises with the South Korean navy that ended earlier this week.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, a liberal who has expressed a desire to reach out to Pyongyang, said during a National Security Council meeting he "won't back off even a single step and make any compromise" on the issue of national security. He warned that North Korea could only face further international isolation and more economic difficulties.

GOP-run House poised to roll back post-2008 financial rules

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has said he wants to do "a big number" on the Obama-era financial rules devised after the Great Recession, and House Republicans were poised to fulfill that goal Thursday.

The GOP-controlled House was on track to vote for legislation that would wipe away much of the financial law created to head off economic meltdowns like the one that caused millions of Americans to lose their jobs and homes during the 2008-09 collapse.

Republicans say many requirements imposed under what is known as the Dodd-Frank Act, named after its Democratic sponsors, have harmed economic growth by making it harder for consumers and businesses to get loans.

In debate as the vote neared, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the bill would help community banks help their local economies.

"Our community banks are in trouble," Ryan said. "They are being crushed by the costly rules imposed on them by the Dodd-Frank Act. This law may have had good intentions but its consequences have been dire for Main Street."

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